Totally Clueless

Chapter 20

"Your mother called." Horace said.

   Josh turned around slowly to face him. Fear gripped him. Nervousness gave him an unwelcoming chill and his voice caught in his throat.

   "Oh, Did you answer?" he asked. His heart sped away from him as he awaited the response.

    "Of course not...did you?"

    "No. But she wont stop. She calls everyday, both of us....we didn't know what to do..."

As he said it a bitter sweet taste surfaced in his mouth.

   "How long?"

   "A week...we wanted to tell you, but..."  his words trailed off.

Horace sensed things in his voice.
Fear and anger among them.

"Does she know where you are?"

"I don't think so."

" She is your mother Josh...I really can't tell you what to do, but you need to let me know what your doing about that. I told you before, this is serious business....your either doing this or your not. If you speak to her think about how its going to affect the case. You need to figure this out and make your mind up. Be sure what you want, then we can proceed"

"I have no doubt Mr.H...I've always known what I want. I want things to move forward"

"Good...so I take it you will handle this..."

"Yes sir...consider it done."

"When this is over there will be time to make up for what was lost."

   "I dont want to..." he whispered as he turned to leave. "Goodnight Mr. H."

As Horace listened to his voice he sensed pain there. "Their were things going on with that boy' he thought  'so much more than meets the eye."

    Chrisy sat on the steps and waited. She got  up  as he approached and met him at the door. She couldn't place the expression he was wearing, but something was not right with him.
Josh wished he could tell her what it was. He just was not ready.

  "What is it...is everything okay?"
He met her concerned gaze, and as usual, It melted away his sorrows. He found comfort in her eyes, all he could ever want resided there. He forced a smile.

   "It's fine...I left my phone....and your dad just wanted to give it back."

   For the first time since Horace had mentioned his mother he became aware of how tightly he gripped the phone in his hand. He relaxed, then he held it up  to where she could see it. "See.." he reassured her. He slipped his hand into hers and pulled her closer without warning.  Chrisy glanced in the  direction of her father's office.

   "Josh...what if..."she began. He cut her off with a gentle, quick kiss on the lips. He needed it more than she could ever know; He needed her.

At that point the warmth of her next to him was worth any wrath Horace could have unleashed. She felt adrenaline shot through her in waves  for the few seconds that their lips pressed to each other.

"I'll call you" he promised, then he told her goodbye and left.

   It was only after Josh had driven most of the way home, that he realized how fast he was going.
He swished pass oncoming  traffic so that they were just a blur. He gradually cut his speed until he came to a complete stop. He just sat there for a while. He ran his fingers over his hair that he still had in a ponytail ,then he hit the steering hard with his fist and cursed. His mind was on his mother.  She had been calling everyday and neither of them had answered. Couldn't  she take a hint? Couldn't she just leave them alone?

   Josh filled  his lungs with the fresh night air and released it again through a long hard sigh. It was time for him to suck it up and go home. He thought of the night he had just spent with Chrisy and smiled. Whatever shackles he found tangling  his feet, she always manage to release them.  She freed him.

   A black on black Honda pulled up next to him as he was about to drive away.

"Hey...I have a package for you." A voice called from a rolled down window.

"Kerry? Where did you guys come from?"

Reid joined Josh in his car and when Kerry drove off in the opposite direction they both drove home.

   They went straight to the kitchen. Reid spotted the plate of pasta on the table as he walked in.

"What's that?" he asked confused by its appearance.

"Oh...that...is dinner. My girlfriend cooked... I just had to leave you a plate."

Reid approached the plate cautiously.
"You shouldn't have, really. Is it alive? Tell me you didn't ingest this."

"Not while there's Pizza...Still Italian... We just stepped it down a notch."

"Okay...Seems like you guys had fun."

Josh's mind flashed back to the way he and Chrisy had danced barefooted under the stars and how his heart sped as she lay against him on the carpet.

"It was great...."

"But...?"

"I left my phone in Mr. H's office all night."

"No wonder....I called you forever."

"Well, guess who else called......?"

"No..." Reid looked at his brother's facial expressions and they confirmed his fears.

"Yes, He knows." Josh responded.

Reid sat down at the table now, unable to process thoughts.

"What did he say?"

"That I should take care of it, and of course I told him I would."

"How? How are you going to do that?"

"I don't know Reid. I haven't the slightest idea. If I did I would have done it a week ago."

"I'm gonna talk to her....... I'll tell her to stop harassing us...."

"That again Reid? You know she's relentless. It's better to not open any lines of communication with her... I'm just... confused."

"Clearly. You were parked on the side of the road crying like a baby about mommy issues."

"I don't cry." Josh wrinkled his forehead at him in agitation. He hung his head and massaged the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"What else aren't you telling me Josh?" Reid asked.

"Horace thinks that if she keeps calling, sooner or later one of us will answer , then we'll change our minds and go running back to her....I told him that was unlikely....but I think he's gonna  be.... cautious. "

"Cautious...?"

"I think he's gonna delay until he's sure there can be no interferences...or at least until she stops  calling."

"Of course he would...but we're running out of time....what the hell are we gonna do?"

Josh got up from the table and took a bottle of vodka that had been gathering  dust  from the cupboard along with two glasses and sat.

"I don't know about you, but right now, I'm taking one shot for my pain." And he poured a glass  for himself.

Reid pushed the other glass toward Josh so he could fill it too.

"Why not....?" He responded.

   Maybe they'd sleep on it  and tomorrow it would all be ok.